Two suspects had attempted to assassinate Russian officials and were plotting further attacks, the FSB has said
Russian law enforcement has broken up a Ukrainian intelligence cell in Donbass that was responsible for attempted assassinations of Russian officials and was planning further attacks, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.
In a statement on Friday, the FSB said it had uncovered “an agent group of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR)” operating in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
The group included two Russian nationals, aged 38 and 28, who were allegedly involved in car bombings in March and December 2024 targeting a Kherson Region government employee and a former senior official of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service in Donetsk.
The FSB said the men also prepared attacks against the head of a municipal administration in Donetsk and an unnamed commander of a volunteer battalion.
The 38-year-old suspect, a resident of Donetsk, was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence in 2022 and tasked with “organizing terrorist attacks, recruiting accomplices and distributing explosive devices,” the FSB said. Meanwhile, the 28-year-old was said to have traveled twice to Moscow in 2023 to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of an unnamed Russian journalist.
The suspects face charges of high treason, terrorism, and illegal circulation of explosives. They could face life in prison if convicted.
The agency also released a video showing a large group of heavily armed operatives entering a building in Donetsk and later escorting a suspect from an apartment. When asked if he knew why he was being detained, the man replied that he assumed it was for “blowing up a person in Donetsk.”
The video showed what appeared to be one of the suspects planting an explosive device under a car. Then, a man that some reports claim was a Russian official approached the vehicle, which exploded as he tried to get in.
Moscow has on numerous occasions accused Kiev of attempting to stage terrorist plots against senior military personnel, civilian officials, and opinion leaders, as well as sabotage critical infrastructure.
You can share this story on social media:
